Meanings
present singular third person debases · participle present debasing · participle past debased · past debased
- transitiveTo lower in character, quality, or value; to degrade.
And just as history will decide whether the leaders of today's world employed the atom to destroy the world or rebuild it for mankind's benefit, so will history decide whether today's broadcasters employed their powerful voice to enrich the people or to debase them.
1961 May 9, Newton N. Minow, Television and the Public InterestSynonyms: abase, adulterate, degrade, demean, debauch
- archaictransitiveTo lower in position or rank.
Synonyms: cut down to size, demote, humble, abase, bring down to size, cut down to size, defame, degrade
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo lower in character, quality, or value; to degrade.
verbTo lower in position or rank.
verbTo lower the value of (a currency) by reducing the amount of valuable metal in the coins.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcorrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
verbcorrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinbassus
- Old Frenchbas
- Englishdebase
From de- + base, from Old French bas, from Latin bassus. Cognate with Spanish debajo (“under, beneath, below”). Compare abase.
More words from Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian понижавам, унижавам
- понижавам (ponižavam)lower in character, etc
- унижавам (unižavam)lower in character, etc
Chinese Mandarin 貶低 /贬低
- 貶低 /贬低 (biǎndī)lower in character, etc
Czech znehodnotit, ponížit
- znehodnotitlower in character, etc
- ponížitlower in character, etc
Esperanto malaltigi
- malaltigilower in character, etc
Finnish huonontaa, heikentää
- huonontaalower in character, etc
- heikentäälower in character, etc
French abâtardir
- abâtardirlower in character, etc
German erniedrigen, entwürdigen
- erniedrigenlower in character, etc
- entwürdigenlower in character, etc
- herabsetzenlower in character, etc
- mindernlower in character, etc
- verschlechternlower in character, etc
- abwertenlower in character, etc
- verderbenlower in character, etc
- herabwürdigenlower in character, etc
Greek υποβαθμίζω, υποτιμώ
- υποβαθμίζω (ypovathmízo)lower in character, etc
- υποτιμώ (ypotimó)lower in character, etc
- εξευτελίζω (exeftelízo)lower in character, etc
Hungarian lealacsonyít, lekicsinyel
- lealacsonyítlower in character, etc
- lekicsinyellower in character, etc
- lefitymállower in character, etc
- fitymállower in character, etc
Irish truailligh
- truaillighlower in character, etc
Italian avvilire
- avvilirelower in character, etc
Japanese 変造する
- 変造する (henzou suru)lower in character, etc
Māori whakatautauhea, whakatautauwhea
- whakatautauhealower in character, etc
- whakatautauwhealower in character, etc
Norwegian Bokmål nedverdige
- nedverdigelower in character, etc
Portuguese rebaixar
- rebaixarlower in character, etc
Romanian degrada
- degradalower in character, etc
Russian унижать
- унижать (unižatʹ)lower in character, etc
Spanish envilecer, degradar
- envilecerlower in character, etc
- degradarlower in character, etc
- viciarlower in character, etc
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with debase
Anagrams
Cite this entry
debase. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/debase
“debase.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/debase. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “debase,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/debase.
Source: debase on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.